Friday, September 30, 2016

Shimon Peres on Mt. Herzl, then and now

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City Daily Photo bloggers group is posting today on the theme ABANDONED.Today on Mount Herzl we buried Shimon Peres and I, and I daresay most of the people of Israel are feeling sad, almost abandoned. The former President was 93 and, well, he was always here, here with us and for us.As Prime Minister Netanyahu said on Wednesday morning, when Peres died, "This is the country's first day ever without Shimon Peres."It feels like our father has died.He is, indeed, the last of our State's founding fathers, the larger-than-life "giants" who brought our State into being in 1948.Above is a photo I took of President Peres in 2009 at Mt. Herzl.(Please enlarge it and enjoy the wonderful faces.)He spoke moving words at a new annual ceremony called The National Ceremony for Ethiopian Jews who perished on their way to Israel.To read about the kesim (Ethiopian religious leaders) in the picture and their liturgical or ceremonial umbrellas, please see my posts here and here.Shalom dear Shimon Peres. Thank you for your example and inspiration. We here below will carry on and try to make you proud of us.Rest in peace.
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17 comments:

Not just the last of the State's founding fathers and therefore an important historical witness, but a decent and humane man in particular. When the world was full of ideologically fixed and personally ambitious leaders, I always thought of Peres more of as a father-figure.